Malema's lawyer is accused of opening fire on farm workers, injuring 4


- Julius Malema's lawyer, Tumi Mokwena, is standing trial on multiple accounts of attempted murder

- Mokwena, however, claims that he was acting in self-defence

- He says that the workers were armed with machetes and that they entered his office after wage disputes


Julius Malema's lawyer, Tumi Mokwena, has been accused of firing unprovoked shots at workers.

The allegations were made by one of the workers on the Zebediela farm who lost his middle finger in the incident.

Another witness also claims that Mokwena did not fire a warning shot and just began shooting randomly.


Mokwena is currently standing trial, where he is facing four counts of attempted murder. Mokwena allegedly open fire on the workers after diagreements about pay.

The incident is reported to have taken place in 2017 on a citrus farm near Lebowakgomo.

Mokwena, who is representing himself in the trial, pleaded not guilty to the charges. He claims that he fired the shots in self-defence, saying that he believed that he the farmworkers posed a real danger to him.

He say they were armed with machetes, bricks and sticks.

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Mokwena says the workers entered his office and that's when he opened fire. He refutes the claims against him, saying that he was incorrectly being made out to be "trigger-happy". He also asserts that he was not shooting to kill. 

However, the management of the farm says that Mokwena was not in danger and that he had no reason to fire the shots.

Additionally, farm management says the workers had no machetes and were not violent.



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